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Electric trucks could soon do more than transport goods. They could also store electricity, supply depot facilities and support public power grids, turning vehicle batteries into flexible energy assets.
MAN Truck & Bus has announced the results of SPIRIT-E, a three-year research project led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), which successfully demonstrated bidirectional charging under real operating conditions.
At a logistics depot in Regensburg, a MAN eTGX with 480 kWh of usable battery capacity fed electricity back through a bidirectional charging system at up to 350 kW. The trials demonstrated three applications: Vehicle-to-Site (V2S), Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V).
The project also tested electricity trading, allowing trucks to purchase power when prices are low and feed it back when prices rise. Using intelligent energy management, project calculations indicate average energy-cost savings of around 10%, potentially reaching 20% under favourable conditions.
However, commercial viability depends on operating patterns, depot charging infrastructure, electricity prices and vehicle downtime. The technology is particularly attractive for trucks with regular depot stays and annual mileage below 100,000 kilometres.
MAN is now working towards bringing bidirectional charging into series production and developing customer advisory services.
Why It Matters
Electric trucks could become more than consumers of electricity. By acting as mobile energy storage systems, they could help logistics operators manage energy costs, improve renewable electricity utilisation and contribute to grid stability.
